Both sisters have been donating their blood regularly with Ai Nee, 12 times while younger sister Ai Thing 6 times adding that they did this “to save a life”.
Ms Alice Chim, Qiong Hai Association Organising Secretary for the campaign said she was pleased with the morning’s good turnout.
jag

Ipoh City Council feted the local media to a dinner recently titled “Press Nite 2011” held at the picturesque location at Gunung Lang.

MBI's Press Night at the picturesque Gunung Lang

Seated together with the media members at the dinner was the respective Heads of Departments from City Council as well as City Councillors.

Ipoh Mayor Dato’Roshidi Hashim has throughout the year held regular meetings with the Bureau Chiefs over breakfast, lunch and recently a tea meeting. There were also friendly sports encounters held. The dinner on the night of 12 October was the culmination of MBI’s programs with the media for the year.
During the dinner MBI Dancers literally “danced” with the media when they performed holding up posters of the various newspapers. MBI also presented awards for ‘Most Sporting Newspaper’ to Bernama, received by its Bureau Chief Mohd Zabidi Osman.

(l-r) Best dressed female and male. Award for Roshidi

The night’s Best Dressed Female went to Ms Norain Abu Bakar from RTM while the Best Dressed Male was won by Mr P.Sandrasegar from Malaysia Nanban.To reciprocate MBI’s gestures, the Perak Media Sports and Welfare Club presented a special “Father of the Media” award to Roshidi.

In his address to the audience Dato Gan highlighted 2 areas where he requested priority attention from the state government. These were:

Make natural gas available to more industries even if the state government has to subsidize the infrastructure cost which would include the laying of pipes. Gan added that he had spoken on this topic in previous speeches and seriously believed the State government should step in to address this issue for the benefit of Perak’s industries.

Provide funding for the maintenance of infrastructure at Industrial Estates which should be considered in next year’s state budget. Gan said that Industrial Park Management Committees and Local Councils had limited funds to maintain industrial estates and gave the example of Tasek Industrial Park, which was upgraded with a Federal Grant under the 9th Malaysia Plan and which would have deteriorated had funds been not made available.

K Nasgappen, GM of Top Glove receiving the award from Zambry. Gan is on the right.

If all the plans laid out by MBI and JKR move according to schedule, residents of Bercham will be able to enjoy a new access and exit road by the end of this year.
Although both the entrance and exit roads are in the southerly directions “ it will still help to reduce traffic congestion by 30% during the peak periods which are 7-9am and 5.30-8pm” said City Councillor for Bercham, Lai Kong Phooi. Together with Lai at the site visit was Bercham Rukun Tetangga Chairman Tan Swee Kong and En Shrizal, an Executive with GB Kuary, the works contractor.

At the exit from Bercham. 3rd from left is Clr Lai and RT Chairman Tan.

Lai made the statement recently when visiting the site where work had started on the exit road which would link it to the North South highway.
The future exit road to the highway starts from the traffic light on Jalan Bercham leading to Lintasan Perajurit17 / Light Industrial Estate. A roundabout will be constructed at the junction leading to the industrial estate and Lebuh Bercham Selatan while the connecting link road to the highway will run parallel behind the industrial estate.
The roundabout will be able to accommodate trailers while the 900 meter link toad leading to the highway will have two lanes, a traffic lane and an emergency lane and allow for acceleration before entering the highway.

The entrance into Bercham from the highway

Meantime work on the entrance link road into Bercham appears to have stopped presumably after the foundation had been put in. The slip road which enters Bercham through Taman Ipoh Bistari II is being developed by a leading hypermarket and will be handed over to JKR when completed.
When contacted the spokesman from the hypermarket’s Corporate Communications section was unable to confirm the percentage of work done thus far nor the date when the supermarket would open its doors.
A fact that should be noted about these activities is the cooperation from the private sectors to help fund the development. The entrance section has been fully funded by the hypermarket. At the exit section the roundabout is being funded by the developer of the adjoining project with the connecting exit link road being funded by JKR. According to Councilor Lai the total cost for the exit section is RM1 million.
When Ipoh Echo first came out with a report in February this year it was just about the entrance to Bercham. Seven months later we are able to report an exit to the highway from Bercham.
Hence praise must be given to the relevant authorities for making an effort to alleviate the traffic congestion faced by Bercham residents daily. Truly a Malaysia Incorporated concept at work and something Bercham residents can look forward to in the coming year.
jag

Many words have been spoken, many plans have been drawn and laid out, many money making schemes by unscrupulous people have been planned and all of this is to be in conjunction with the Visit Perak Year of 2012 next year.

What I find most disturbing is that there has been nothing, absolutely nothing that has been written regarding our “proud” museum Darul Ridzuan in Ipoh. Those of you who are familiar with our so-called museum would know that it is located between the State Secretariat Building and the Police Patrol Car depot. To identify the museum just look out for a poor huge miserable turtle or tortoise lying out in the garden.

Now let us look at the museum itself, it is a double-storey mansion that used to belong to a Chinese towkay who sold it to the government. Then it was used as a government agency before being reverted into a museum a number of years ago.

The museum occupies a very large area that consists of an external exhibition shelter that holds an old timber truck, rusty mining equipment, a boat with splintered wood and a small plantation train. There are also two very rusty military vehicles, a Ferret Scout Car and a White Armoured Personnel Carrier, exposed to the elements with no shelter.

The moment you step into the museum the visitor is confronted by…emptiness. Now that is just the beginning, I have not told you about the pictures with no labels, the exhibits with no information and the total absence of any curator or assistant who will be able to explain anything in English to a foreign visitor. The second floor is a little better, the exhibits have been touched up to an extent, lighting is better and the exhibits are well labelled by Malaysian standards.

Whereas the walls at the ground floor are just bare brown carpets, up here is where many, many years ago an NGO called Ipohworld held the most successful exhibition in the museum ever organised by a visionary, Commander (R) Ian Anderson RN (Royal Navy), who had made Ipoh his home. In a matter of four weeks the Ipohworld exhibition surpassed the number of visitors that had ever visited the museum since its opening.

Now, back to my question, how is the museum showcasing the history of us Ipohites? Ipohworld showed us our grandparents, it even showed us when we were young, it presented to us the trades of our forefathers and how our ancestors moved, and how Ipoh was and is. Now dear reader isn’t that what history is all about? What does the current museum contain? Does it show us how it was? And what were the stories behind the exhibits? Does it depict the traders and their wares of yesteryears?

Now, what will the impression of a foreign guest be when he visits the museum? Never mind the museum toilet for now. I would like to suggest that if the State of this great land is not capable of guarding, conserving and preserving its history it will be better to either bulldoze down the museum and build a food court in place or let a private NGO like Ipohworld run it for the sake of Perak Darul Ridzuan.

On October 10, a candidate in the midst of PMR Examination at SMJK Poi Lam found himself taking the examination at the Perak Community Specialist Hospital (PCSH) instead of in school. Ng Chen Weng (pic middle) had abdominal cramps, vomiting and dizziness and was suspected of suffering from acute appendicitis which eventually turned out to be Acute Gastroenteritis (AGE).

As he had to stay in hospital for observation, he took his examination at PCSH, which proved to be a memorable experience for him. In addition to that, the principal of SMJK Poi Lam (pic right) also visited and gave the candidate encouragement and support.

A one-day conference on “Organisational Excellence in Manufacturing” is being organised by FMM Institute Perak at Impiana Hotel on Oct. 19. FMM Perak Branch chairman Dato’ Gan Tack Kong said that the conference would serve as a platform to bring together both international and Malaysian experts to share their knowledge in manufacturing. It would focus on bridging participants with manufacturing specialists from the industry and academic world to network and share best practices in manufacturing including sharing knowledge on Lean Manufacturing.

Local and overseas speakers who are authorities in their fields would deliver their lectures during the conference. There would be five lectures and one panel session. The topics include Malaysian Manufacturing: Effects of the Global Financial and Economic Crisis and the Economic Outlook for 2012.

Dato’ Gan said that they are expecting about 100 participants mainly from the manufacturing industry.

He added that the conference would benefit Chief Executive Officers, General Managers and Engineers in the manufacturing sector.

State Agriculture Development Corporation (SADC) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with University Putra Malaysia (UPM) which was witnessed by Menteri Besar, Dato’ Seri DiRaja Dr. Zambry Abd Kadir.

Deputy Chancellor of UPM, Prof. Dr. Tai Shzee Yew signed on behalf of the university and CEO of SADC Ahmad Rizal Abdul Rahman signed on behalf of the corporation.

Ahmad Rizal said that the first project to be implemented would be a mango plantation in the state.

The occasion coincided with its annual Hari Raya open house at its office complex in Taman Chateau. Most of the invited guests were from the palm oil estates. Also contractors and stakeholders were invited. A variety of delicious Malay, Chinese and Indian food was served.

Manis bt Mad from Kampong Headwork, an Orang Asli settlement in Langkap, can now heave a sigh of relief, thanks to Yayasan Bina Upaya Darul Ridzuan (YBU). Her dream of owning a new house has come true.

The 60-ish lady, who lives in a dilapidated wooden house which is almost 50 years old, built by her former husband, fears for her life as the termite-eaten house could crumble anytime. “I wish to thank Yayasan Bina Upaya and the MB for their help,” she told the media when met. The foundation has undertaken to build a low-cost house worth RM30,000 on the site of her present house. The house when completed will provide Manis with a more habitable roof over her head.

Construction of low-cost houses is one of the foundation’s on-going poverty eradication programmes for the poor and the needy in the state.